During World War II, the Berlin Zoo was one of the first establishments to push out Jewish patrons – even before the Nazi regime had asked institutions to do so. More than 70 years later, the zoo is trying to own up to its misdeeds.

In 1938, the Berlin Zoo got rid of Jewish board members and forced Jewish shareholders to sell their stock at a loss, before re-selling the stock in an effort to "Aryanize" the institution. The zoo has now commissioned a historian to identify these past shareholders and track down their descendants, according to a report by AFP.

"Jews were very important for the zoo," the historian, Monika Schmidt, told AFP. "But they were pushed out step by step by the zoo itself, before the Nazi state asked any institution to do those things."

According to the report, roughly a quarter of the zoo's 4,000 shareholders in the '30s were Jews.

At the time, the Berlin Zoo was something of a social hotspot; instead of receiving dividends, the shareholders and their families enjoyed free access to the zoo, as well as the prestige of supporting an important institution.

Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.